High Sierra Topix

I was planning on doing a section of the high route next week. Either piute north or pine creek north. With the smoke im thinking maybe I should start way south. Not too sure I want to start theSHR and make the climb up the copper creek trail. Kinda set on the bear lakes basin. Is the rim fire over? Or should i shoot for a west side south entry?

The Rim Fire is a long way from out. It is going to continue to burn until we get a good rain.

Go south. I drove back from Bishop Sunday afternoon and the smoke was thick from Big Pine to Bridgeport, and clear once I got to Walker. Mammoth to Lee Vining was the worst. I did 10 days in Lakes Basin, Dumbbell Lakes and Cataract Creek and had no smoke at all. The smoke tends to blow down the Owens Valley from Lee Vining and Mammoth. I could not even see the Minarettes. I would think the southwest part of the Sierra has the best bet. A loop from Roads End probably is your best bet.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am in a similar bind as am flying into the area this weekend and had originally planned a 5 day backpacking trip in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Since we will be driving in from Vegas, am now considering a hike out of Onion Valley (Independence) via Kearsarge Pass and into Rae Lakes and Sixty Lakes Basin. Entering from the other side looks nice too (Rae Lakes too but would add a couple more hours of driving after a 5 hr flight... I imagine however that smoke conditions would be similar on either end (east/west) of that southern part of the park. Thanks for any suggestions and appreciate the various updates being posted here and elsewhere on smoke conditions across the Sierras.

I just completed the North Lake to South Lake loop on Sunday 9/8 and drove back to the Bay Area yesterday - Monday. We had zero smoke on our hike until the last day, Sun when we hiked out of lower Dusy Basin to South Lake. It was very light - a faint smell of smoke and hazy skies over Bishop Pass. When we drove home on Monday very little smoke in the Owens Valley and practically none over Sonora Pass (a huge change since 9/1 when we drove east over the pass through dense smoke). Smoke seemed to be blowing to the west and south yesterday - the first significant smoke we saw was as we drove down into the foothills west of Sonora and it was all to the south of Hwy 108.